Politics and Government

6:00 am

Sat July 19, 2014

Mary Fallin In A Close Contest With Joe Dorman For Reelection

State Rep. Joe Dorman (D-Rush Springs) and Gov. Mary Fallin, major party candidates for Oklahoma governor in 2014.

Credit Wikimedia Commons

A new poll by Rasmussen on the Oklahoma governor’s race shows within the margin of error. Likely voters support for Gov. Fallin at 45 percent and opponent State Rep. Joe Dorman (D-Rush Springs) at 40 percent. Seven percent favor some other candidate, while eight percent are undecided.

The poll results show nearly half of Oklahomans disapprove of Fallin’s job performance and almost one in three Oklahomans view her very unfavorably. An earlier poll by Sooner Poll for the Tulsa World showed Fallin’s favorability with Oklahoma voters dipped to 52 percent in early June, a 19-point drop from her high of 73 percent in September.

In particular, the Rasmussen report says, “49 percent of all voters in the state now approve of the job Fallin is doing as governor, while 48 percent disapprove. This includes 20 percent who Strongly Approve and 28 percent who Strongly Disapprove.

“Fallin is now viewed Very Favorably by 25 percent of Oklahoma voters and Very Unfavorably by 29 percent. For Dorman, Very Favorables are 11 percent and Very Unfavorables nine percent."

Rasmussen says, “Dorman’s biggest challenge at this point is name recognition: 35 percent of Oklahoma voters say they have never heard of him. That’s one reason why at this point in an election cycle, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers. ”

The Rasmussen Reports says that in four policy areas tracked by Rasmussen, “Oklahoma voters trust Fallin more than Dorman. Gov. Fallin has her biggest leads when it comes to whom voters trust more to deal with taxes (46 percent to 32 percent) and government spending (44 percent to 32 percent). She leads 42 percent to 33 percent in the area of government ethics and corruption and 42 percent to 35 percent when it comes to handling social issues. But roughly one-in-four voters are undecided in every case."

Joe Dorman’s campaign released his statement: “The poll clearly shows the momentum has shifted in this race. I can win. My campaign is clearly picking up steam while Governor Fallin’s numbers are consistently dropping. Just as the Tulsa World’s poll Monday showed, Mary Fallin’s popularity is floundering. In contrast, as Oklahomans get to know more about me and my stances on the issues, they approve of my bipartisan approach to leadership. I will continue to work hard to connect with Oklahomans across the state to share my policies and how I will be a governor for all Oklahomans.”

The poll has a sampling error of plus-or-minus four percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

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